Leave it to Fate
by animallover0109
Summary: AU: In District 12, the seam children are assigned to a future spouse at the age of 3. The only way for this assignment to be broken is if a merchant child claims one of the seam for their own spouse before the marrying age of 18. Katniss is assigned to Gale, but what happens when a merchant takes a liking to her?
1. The Assignments

AU: In District 12, the Seam children are assigned a future spouse at the age of 3. The only way for this assignment to be broken is if a merchant child claims the Seam for their own spouse before the marrying age of 18. Katniss is assigned to Gale, but what of the merchant Peeta?

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or other recognizable features in this story. The only originality is the idea.

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Chapter 1: The Assignments

As was customary in District 12, all of the parents of the three year old Seam children in the district gathered at the square on the first day of January. The time had come for the assignments to be made: if your child had made it to the age of three, then the highest mortality rates had been passed. Only half of the Seam children made it to this milestone.

Two lines had formed: one with the parents of the girls, and one with the parents of the boys. Each line moved slowly as they filled out the papers- the ones that would essentially give their children to one another without any say in the matter.

Nobody could quite remember when this tradition had started, so of course the rumors ran rampant. Some said that this was a way of matching more hardy bloodlines in order to lower the mortality rate. Others said that it was a way of keeping the people of the Seam within their class. If they were assigned a partner before they were even able to make a choice, then they wouldn't go looking for a partner from the merchant class.

Of course, there was always that one allowance: if someone of the merchant class took a liking to a person of the Seam class before either had reached their 18th birthdays, then they could claim them for a spouse effective immediately. The pair would then take on the status of the male in the pairing.

This allowance had only been used once before in history, by the couple of the last name of Everdeen. Lilly Diamont of the merchant class had taken a liking to Stephen Everdeen of the Seam class. This had caused an uproar in the merchant class: one of their blood had lowered themselves to that of what they saw as the lowly Seam class. Needless to say, Lilly never spoke to her family or friends after that moment.

The Everdeens stood in one of the lines now. Their daughter, whom they had named Katniss, had turned three the previous September and was now to be assigned her future spouse. Neither was happy about the event, but they were powerless to stop it.

The lines grew smaller and the crowd in front of the justice building grew longer as the parents finished registering their children. Now the waiting game began as the Peacekeepers decided which lines would be best to combine. After waiting for a solid 3 hours, the head peacekeeper, Cray, emerged from the building a stack of papers in tow: the assignments.

One by one, the pairs were listed and the parents went up to grab the piece of paper which told of their child's future. Listed alongside the name of the future spouse was the number of children that they were expected to have, and why they had been paired together.

Most of the papers would not be seen by the children until they were old enough to understand. Others would not be shown to their children until they were nearly at the marrying age. This choice was left to the parents to decide.

The Everdeens were called up alongside the Hawthorne family. Katniss Everdeen was officially assigned to Gale Hawthorne. The reason for this assignment was listed as longevity, and the number of kids was listed as 4.

The Everdeens and Hawthornes disagreed with one another on when their children should be told of their assignment. After much debate, they agreed to disagree. Gale would be told when he reached the age of 8 with instructions not to tell anybody of his assignment. Katniss, however, would be told when she asked to know.

With the fates of their three year old children decided, the parents all returned home. Some had lighter hearts while some left with just another burden.

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AN: So, I'm a bit out of practice but hoping to get back into the swing of things. Please review and let me know what you think of it so far and any suggestions that you may have on where I should go with this though I have a basic idea. Thanks for reading!


	2. The Power of Knowledge

AU: So…I got some feedback on the last story at least! Thank you to **Clara Meliza, booknerd14, **and 4 **Guests** for reviewing the previous chapter! *hands out virtual cookies* A longer AN will be posted at the bottom…enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing aside from the idea. Everything else belongs to Suzanne Collins.

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Chapter 2: The Power of Knowledge

Gale POV (All age 8)

I walked Katniss and Prim home from school, as was my usual routine since our fathers had been killed in a mining accident last winter. Our families were both hit hard by their deaths as our mothers were not assigned to a new husband in the aftermath, leaving us to fend for ourselves.

Katniss and I had begun an unsteady alliance in which we hunted in the woods together every morning before school. When this had started last month, our prizes were poor at best, but this has been steadily getting better. With me sticking to setting traps and Katniss sticking to shooting the animals, our haul has been increasing: even allowing us some time today to begin teaching one another the other skill.

I waved goodbye to them as I headed for home. Today was the day my mother had said that I would be told of my future spouse. Needless to say, I was excited. There were already a handful of girls that I was interested in at school, and none of them knew who their significant other would be yet. Of all of them though, I had become partial to Katniss.

We were already proving that together we would be able to get along amazingly well. Even though the deaths of our fathers had been what brought us together, I was grateful to have been thrown into her life.

When I walked in the front door, I saw my mother waiting for me in the kitchen. Oddly, my siblings were not around. "Where is everybody?" I asked her, a bit hesitant about the situation.

"I sent them on an errand," she said dismissively. "Gale, I'm going to tell you who your partner is but you can't tell anybody. Not your brothers nor sister nor your future partner. Is that understood?"

I nodded mutely although I found the arrangement a bit strange. Nonetheless, I wanted to know who my partner is, not wait another minute to be told. My mother pulled out a sheet of paper that looked to be a bit tattered, maybe from being folded and refolded?

"Your partner is going to be Katniss Everdeen," my mother said softly as she handed over the piece of paper. I held it tightly in my hands as I stared in awe at the writing. The girl that I liked was going to be mine when we turned 18. I looked at the other scarce comments written on the page. Apparently our future children were expected to live long lives…all 4 of them.

4 children? Gross. I'm still only a child myself, and I just can't wrap my head around the fact that I'm supposed to have 4 children of my own by the time I die.

"Thank you mother," I finally say as I head off to my room, thinking of the ways to show Katniss that I'll be a worthy husband when the time comes.

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Katniss POV

When I walked in the front door after school, my mother was cleaning the various floors around the house: something which she only did when there was something on her mind. I started to walk past her to throw my school bag into my room when she stopped me.

"Katniss?" she called. I turned to face her, apprehensive. Ever since my father's death she hadn't spoken to me much, instead spending most of her time looking for herbs growing within the district's fence and the rest of her time sitting in her bedroom.

"I…I need to ask you something." She paused for a minute. "Your future partner is being told about you today," she began slowly, speaking as if she regretted it. "We made an agreement where he won't say anything about it so…when you're ready…you can know about him."

I just stared at her mutely. Why would I want to know about my future spouse? My mother and father's marriage had been vastly different from what was considered normal in the district. Even today, I'd occasionally overhear somebody whispering about the 'scandal' as they called it. I didn't hold out hope that my marriage would be much the same: for love instead of what was predetermined, but I still didn't care for my future.

"I don't want to know mother," I replied back slowly. "I don't want to know until the day before I turn 18." There was really no use in making myself miserable in the meantime. It would be better to wait and dream…right?

"Okay Katniss," she said, looking oddly relieved. "You can go now." Released, I turned and headed to my bedroom, ready to set about my afternoon routine.

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Peeta POV

District 12 is weird, I've finally decided for myself. Nothing about it really makes much sense to me. Ever since the day when I threw Katniss the purposefully burnt bread, I've been thinking more and more about different things.

What kind of leaders could let their people starve rather than provide them with aide? Sure, the food my family and some of the poorer merchants ate wasn't always the greatest quality, but we always had enough food in our stomachs not to feel the pains of hunger. Katniss had looked close to death that rainy night, all skin and bones. Over the last 2 months she's been filling out more which makes me happy.

And all of the Seam kids have been talking about their arranged marriages. Myself and everyone else from the merchant class didn't have this…we were just expected to fall in love with someone from our own part of town.

I just found it all so weird. Why were the merchants and the Seam people so different from one another, yet we all lived in the same place? I was beginning to think that it was just stupid.

Every day at school, I'd eavesdrop on the conversation about the newly discovered pairings (to us kids anyway). Katniss' name still hasn't been talked about, which I'm secretly happy about. I don't want anybody to claim her. Though nobody knows it, I think that I love her.

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AN: So…what do you think? Suggestions on which age to do next would be much appreciated as I'm still trying to decide….hm… Also! I've written a new story for The Hunger Games titled **Angels Fly. **It's another AU, but this time it's a songfic one-shot and I'd love it if you guys could check it out and leave a review? ;) Hope to hear from you all!


	3. Passing Notes

AN: I'm so sorry guys! College threw me a crap storm… a very very large one at that. Long story short: last semester I took 20 credit hours and worked 26-40 hours a week. This semester isn't much better… 21 credit hours and 8-20 hours a week. Oops? I'm not giving up on this story! Just struggling to find the time to write anything. Thank you to the people that reviewed, as well as Darkness Bandit for getting me to get moving on this :) So.. here's chapter 3!

Disclaimer: Still own nothing aside from the ideas… I can only hope to be as ninja as Suzanne Collins someday…

Chapter 3: Passing Notes

**Katniss POV: 16 years old**

These last 8 years have turned out to be better than I ever expected them to be. After spending about a year hunting with Gale, we were able to come up with a better system to bring in game. While I was only able to figure out how to empty and reset Gale's traps, he was able to pick up on how to use a bow and arrow fairly quickly. He wasn't as good as I was at it, but he was good enough.

Our families are more than surviving now, in fact we're almost thriving. Our hauls are plentiful, leaving us enough food to feed our families with while having some left over to trade for other necessities. We're not rich by any means, but we do well for ourselves.

True to my mother's word, and the word of my future spouse's partner, I haven't heard a word of who I'm supposed to be with. Gale's told me that he knows who his spouse is and that he's happy with it, but I haven't seen him around with any girls really. Odd, but not my business to meddle with. As for myself, I'm still waiting for the day before I turn 18 to find out who I'm going to spend my life with. I still don't relish the thought of having kids that will be put through the same rigors, and I certainly don't want to go through a loveless marriage although I have no choice in the matter.

Looking at the clock, I jump up from the kitchen table. "Prim, we're going to be late!" I yelled to my little sister.

"Just a minute!" She called back to me. Not a minute later, she came bounding down the short hallway with her pigtails flying out behind her. After tucking in the back of her shirt, which always seemed to be hanging out, we headed out the front door. Gale and his brothers were waiting outside to start the walk to school.

Prim immediately went over to hold Rory's hand. The two of them had wanted to know early on who their matches were, and they seemed to be getting along really well. Perhaps my little sister wouldn't be stuck in a loveless marriage after all.

Gale and I kept up some small talk about where we were going to hunt after school while Prim and Rory skipped on ahead of us. As the school gates came into our view, the two of us sighed. Yet another day of the torture they called school. Waving goodbye, we all headed off to our separate classrooms.

I sat down in my seat a mere minute before the bell rang. Everything looked to be about the same as every other day before aside from one thing: Peeta Mellark had claimed the seat next to mine today. I kept my head down, avoiding looking at him. Why would a townie be sitting next to the seat that everyone knew I always took? He had saved my life that winter day though, so I held my tongue in check.

As Miss Trinket started to ramble about the history of Panem, an odd thing happened: Peeta passed me a note. I shot him a look of disbelief, but he kept his eyes trained forward. What the hell?

Confused, I opened up the note, only to find that the only thing written on it was: _'Hi Katniss. Would you like to sit with me at lunch today?' _ I stared at the note, confused. Why in the world would Peeta want to sit with me at lunch? I was a Seam girl, and he was a townie. The two did not tend to mingle much, especially not across genders. My friendship with Delly and Madge was even considered weird, not many people trusted those of us from the Seam.

After staring for a good 5 minutes, I finally scribbled down the word _why_ before sliding it back to him. He didn't write anything back for a few minutes, as I actually started to listen to Miss Trinket's lesson though we've probably heard this lesson about 5 times before. What he slid back to me only confused me even more.

_I'd just like to get to know you. I've seen you often enough, might as well get to know you right?_ I shot him an incredulous look. Why now? He could have easily tried talking to me at numerous occasions before when I was younger. What was so special about this point in time?

_I guess so, _I wrote back. _Where?_

_Your usual table,_ he wrote back. _I'll meet you there :) _I couldn't think of anything to write back to it so I slid the folded page into my notebook and spent the rest of the lesson focusing on the teacher.

Peeta Mellark, a townie that had saved my life years ago, wanted to have lunch with me. If there was one thing that I knew, it was that I was going to figure out why the sudden need to know me, and I would thank him properly for the live-saving bread that he threw me years ago. I owed him a debt, and if that meant talking to him so that he could 'know' me, then so be it.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the period and the two of us headed our separate ways. 3 more hours, then I'd know what this odd boy wanted with me.

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AN: Not my best work, but I'm just trying to get something out there and figure out where I want to head with this next. I have a rough idea, still trying to decide though. Any ideas/thoughts/criticism is welcome! Reviews make my days better :) Also, songs/prompts for song-fic type works would be great! I do best with sad things, they get my creativity flowing ;)


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